In an article over
at Asia Times, Leonid A Petrov, a lecturer in Korean studies
at the University of Sydney, points out that many experts
expected the North Korean state to crumble after the fall of the
USSR. Petrov writes that the country's salvation came from its
incredible natural resources.

The country's mountainous regions are thought to sit on around
200 different minerals, including, crucially, a large number of
rare earth metals. The total worth of these deposits is thought
to be worth
more than $6 trillion*.

There's two clear outcomes of this, according to Petrov:

North Korea may begin to resemble an oil-rich gulf state,
using the huge profits from a natural resource to keep in place
an inefficient and corrupt state.

Kim may have to turn increasingly to other countries with
greater technology, such as China, the world's leading expert in
rare earth metals, and even South Korea.

Incredibly, we're already beginning to see this new North Korea
in action, not just newfound government spending, but also in its
relationship with other countries.
According to the WSJ, South Korea's state-owned commodities
developer recently admitted it held talks in North Korea last
year about a possible joint-rare earth venture.

*CORRECTION: This article originally said that the rare earth
metals alone were worth $6 trillion, but the figure in fact
refers to all of the mineral deposits.